Translator’s Note: The English translation below is taken from the Chinese language blog of Qianfeng Daoist Master Zhao Ming Wang of Beijing – who has given me permission to carry this work. The mind and body appear to be two separate entities, but in essence they are inherently linked. Although within Daoist self-cultivation there exist specific techniques to train the body and to train the mind, in reality these methods are simply two distinct techniques for entering the same cultivated sense of unity that is not limited to itself. This is because a truly unified state allows for all and every form of diversity and is not simply a bland monism. In an uncultivated state everything appears disparate, apart, confrontary, painful to experience, and energy wasting. In the unified state – notions of one-sided ‘unity’ and ‘separation’ are transcended. Master Zhao Ming Wang beautifully explains this state of pristine being. ACW 18.8.15

Genuine self-cultivation can only be achieved after the mind has been developed through discipline. The mind is developed in two ways - by cultivating the permanent states of virtue and selflessness. Cause and effect is entirely dependent upon our own physical actions which produce either blessings or misfortune – but only the realised state of wuwei (non-action) in the mind and body is considered real. Even spirits and ghosts have their method – but their cycle of endless transformation is difficult to discern. Under the divine sky and across the broad-earth the body (and self) appear to exist and the body (and self) appear not to exist – within the world of illusion it is difficult to see this clearly. Meritous self-cultivation sees through the illusion of ghosts and spirits – and reveals that it is the human mind and body where true refinement is produced through genuine self-cultivation.